ORLANDO, Fla. — Fifty-five sloths died after being imported for an Orlando tourist attraction in Florida that never opened, but an Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigation found no evidence of criminal activity.
The conclusion is now fueling a different question in Florida: If dozens of animals can die without anyone violating existing criminal law, are the state’s rules strong enough?
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, says they are not.
“Compliance is not the same as care,” Eskamani said after the findings were released.
The sheriff’s office released the results of its Sloth World investigation Wednesday after spending more than three months reviewing facility records, veterinary documents, state wildlife inspection records and diagnostic findings. Detectives also conducted more than 20 interviews with state and national experts, according to News 6’s report on the investigation.
Investigators concluded the deaths were linked to multiple factors, including disease, transportation stress, nutritional and copper deficiencies, gastrointestinal problems and pre-existing health conditions. Pathology findings also pointed toward a widespread infectious process that was most likely viral.
The case has been referred to the State Attorney’s Office for the Ninth Judicial Circuit.
Sloth World was supposed to become an Orlando attraction
Sloth World was planned for International Drive, one of Florida’s busiest tourism corridors.
The attraction, founded by Ben Agresta, was promoted as a place where visitors could see sloths up close. But Sloth World never opened, and the animals connected to the operation instead became the center of a widening animal-welfare controversy.
The known death toll eventually reached 55 sloths imported from Guyana and Peru.
Earlier state records showed that 21 sloths imported from Guyana died after being housed at an Orlando facility during a period of cold weather. The Associated Press reported that the building had no electricity or running water at the time and that space heaters being used to warm the animals stopped working after tripping a fuse. Another shipment of 10 sloths arrived from Peru in February 2025; two were dead on arrival, while the others later died after arriving in poor health.
Later records obtained by News 6 revealed another 21 deaths, pushing the known total to 55. Many of the necropsy reports pointed to gastrointestinal or stomach-related problems. A veterinarian listed in records told the station that she primarily treated dogs and cats and had warned Sloth World that it needed an exotic-animal specialist. News 6 detailed those additional deaths in May.
Thirteen critically ill sloths were eventually transferred to the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens in Sanford in April. Five later died, leaving eight in the zoo’s care as of Wednesday’s report.
Investigators found multiple causes — but no criminal activity
Orange County investigators examined veterinary and diagnostic records, inspection histories and the conditions at facilities used to quarantine the animals.
Their report attributed the deaths to a combination of factors rather than one single cause. Those included disease, stress from transportation, malnutrition and other nutritional deficiencies, gastrointestinal dysfunction and underlying health problems.
Investigators also looked at federal wildlife protections.
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service inspector determined that the sloth species involved were not protected under the federal Endangered Species Act or CITES rules at the time they entered the country. Two sloth species were added to CITES Appendix II on March 5, 2026 — three days after the final shipment arrived, according to the sheriff’s investigation.
Ultimately, deputies said they found no evidence of criminal activity.
That distinction — between what happened to the animals and what prosecutors can prove under existing law — is now at the center of the political response.
‘The standards themselves are the problem’
Eskamani had previously joined local officials and sloth conservation experts in demanding accountability after the scale of the deaths became public.
When the sheriff’s findings were released, she thanked detectives for taking the case seriously and said she accepted their conclusion under existing Florida law.
But she argued that the conclusion exposes gaps in the law rather than settling the larger animal-welfare debate.
“When a facility can be in full compliance with every applicable state standard and animals still die by the dozens, the standards themselves are the problem,” Eskamani said in her statement. “Compliance is not the same as care.”
Eskamani said she plans to work with other lawmakers, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and wildlife and veterinary experts to strengthen rules governing the importation, housing and permitting of exotic animals.
Florida has already changed part of its system.
After the Sloth World deaths, the FWC began requiring anyone seeking to bring sloths into Florida to obtain a single-use Wildlife Importation Permit. Applicants must identify the species and number of animals being imported and generally submit their application at least two weeks before the animals enter the state. Previously, sloths could be brought into Florida using a broader Class III wildlife import permit. The state announced the tighter sloth import requirements this summer.
The FWC has also formed a task force to review Florida’s exotic-animal permitting rules.
Orange County commissioners have separately explored restricting the use of exotic wildlife for commercial entertainment.
For now, the criminal investigation has produced a result likely to frustrate many of the people who pushed authorities to investigate in the first place: 55 animals died, investigators documented a complicated chain of health and transportation problems, but deputies say they found no evidence that a crime occurred.
The next fight will be over whether Florida changes its laws so a case like Sloth World would be handled differently in the future.
